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Staff areas are well used: lots of feet, chairs and table legs, so the floor needs to be durable. As a space used for work, meetings and well-earned breaks, it needs to look homely, comfortable: the floor plays a central part in creating a space where staff are happy to be. With staff areas in constant use, installation or refurbishment needs to be quick and easy.
Altro Cantata adhesive-free is a soft-look adhesive-free floor, available in 17 shades from subtle naturals to beautifully vivid. It offers 14dB impact sound reduction and comfort underfoot. Altro Cantata halves installation time – you can weld and walk the same day, even over fresh concrete, with no adhesive odours. There are no rucks, no movement and it is guaranteed for ten years. At the end of its life the entire floor can be uplifted and reused or recycled.
No surprises here. Art room floors contend with a lot of contaminants, including chalk dust and water from clay work. It needs to be easy to sweep up and clean up, without students slipping up.
Altro Classic 25 is a specialist safety floor, meaning it prevents slips with certain contaminants other than water. With a high level of slip resistance, it reduces the slip risk to less than one in a million, even with muddy water from that clay. It also has good chemical resistance and features Altro Easyclean Technology, making cleaning easier. At 2.5mm it’s tough enough to cope with art props being dragged around the room, as well as the heavy levels of foot traffic, with the added benefit of comfort underfoot. And Altro Classic has a track record for safety and durability going back 60 years, so rest assured, those using this space are in safe hands.
Lots of dancing, as well as standing feet, plus multiple tables, chairs and drink spillages on a daily basis: a student bar floor sees a lot of action. A guaranteed tough floor is the best option to avoid the need for repairs, or even replacement, before too long. With busy bar staff and little room to clear up spills, and many spills going unreported, a safety floor gives peace of mind that students and staff will be safe from slips.
Altro Classic 25 is a specialist safety floor, with a high level of slip resistance that reduces the slip risk to one in a million. At 2.5mm it’s tough enough to cope with heavy levels of foot traffic, plus furniture that has to be moved every day to allow for cleaning. It has the added benefit of comfort under foot, ideal for lengthy bar shifts, or an evening of dancing. Altro Classic has a 20-year guarantee and with Altro Easyclean Technology, those spilled drinks can be dealt with easily, ready for the next round.
At peak times, student bar staff will find themselves making or pouring multiple drinks, with a queue of customers waiting. The rushed service means regular splashes might get a cursory wipe or have to wait until the end of service. So, the wall behind the bar needs to be impervious, to prevent damage from bottles and glasses to the surface, be easy to clean quickly, and look good throughout. With many bars a custom design, finding appropriate walls that also suit different shapes and sizes can be a challenge.
Altro Whiterock Splashbacks are wipe-clean, impermeable and easy to install. Available in a satin or gloss finish, there are over 40 shades to choose from, making matching or complementing just about any design, easy. As you would expect, Altro Whiterock Splashbacks are available pre-cut, or custom-sized, reducing cutting that might have to take place onsite.
Unlike schools, many university canteens and cafes are open much of the day, and often into the night. Students in catered accommodation will rely on these at mealtimes and, during holidays, the facilities will be used for conferences and events. This means downtime is a problem. These areas can’t be out of action for long; quick and straight-forward installation over an existing floor, or over new concrete saves time and money.
Altro Wood adhesive-free creates maximum impact with minimum downtime – halving installation time - and no adhesive means no associated odours during - and post - installation. With 12 colour choices, 14dB impact sound reduction and a one in a million slip-resistance reassurance, it offers high levels of comfort underfoot providing a safe, durable and decorative solution for busy spaces. It is ideal for busy public spaces where disruption needs to be minimal.
For many students, university canteens and cafes replace the family dining room. They should be somewhere you can enjoy a meal; somewhere you want to be. At the same time, with many universities hiring these spaces out for conferences and events, they need to look good for the long-term and be easy to clean quickly.
Altro Whiterock wall designs ensure rooms can dress to impress, without compromising on durability. Natural wood, stone, linen and metal options can be used alone or combined, giving multiple design options. They fit perfectly with Altro floors and can be used with Altro Whiterock or Altro Fortis Titanium to run into adjacent areas. As you expect from Altro Whiterock, the sheets are impact-resistant, impervious and hygienic.
In 2017/18 there were 2.34 million students at UK higher education institutes*. To accommodate them, universities house multiple classrooms that all need cleaning and maintaining, and can’t be out of action for long. Floors that can deal with the day-to-day demands of a learning space; feet, bags and furniture, are easy to maintain and can be installed quickly, will save time, inconvenience and money. Given the amount of time students spend in these rooms, a floor that can look good too is a huge benefit.
Altro Cantata adhesive-free is a soft-look adhesive-free floor that halves installation time – you can weld and walk the same day, even over fresh concrete, with no adhesive odours. It offers up to 14dB impact sound reduction and comfort underfoot. There are no rucks, no movement and Altro Cantata is guaranteed for ten years. At the end of its life the entire floor can be uplifted and reused or recycled.
*Higher Education Student Numbers, House of Commons Library
Universities are proud of their heritage, the town or city where they’re based, and successful alumni. They’re often keen to showcase these in public spaces, and where better to inspire the alumni of tomorrow than in the spaces in which they’re learning?
Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) enables a university to put its own stamp on this key space. Choose designs or photography to inspire knowledge and pride; the design possibilities are endless. In addition to photos or art, this walls system can be used to support wayfinding, featuring signage or instructions. And, as needed for this busy area, Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) is durable with scratch-resistant properties, ensuring the walls look good for the long-term.
It’s no surprise that the main requirement for a lecture theatre is a calm space with no noise distraction. While students will sit, lecturers stand for at least an hour and often longer, so their comfort is also a consideration. As most lecture spaces are theatre style, the flooring on stairs and in seating rows see most foot traffic.
Altro Serenade is an acoustic floor, reducing impact sound by 19dB. At 3.9mm thick it also provides welcome comfort underfoot for lecturers. There are multiple shades and pattern options to choose from, including three linen-looks that resemble carpet, with none of the hygiene and cleaning concerns. The range also coordinates and matches with both Altro Orchestra and Altro Operetta, so it’s possible to run the same look across a number of rooms to ensure you have the right technical performance where needed.
As these rooms are theatre style, the walls at the door entrance where students queue to get in, and at the end of the seating rows, are likely to be bumped and knocked by bags, laptop cases and shoes, meaning they need more protection than other areas.
Dense, impervious and resistant to bumps, Altro Fortis Titanium wall sheet is designed to protect these busy, vulnerable areas. Its ten shades, which vary from classic White to bold Cardinal red, run through so, unlike paint or some alternative wall coverings, a scrape doesn’t remove the colour. Use alongside Altro Fortis corner protection, a ready-made piece that protects the areas most susceptible to damage from regular knocks.
A CDT room floor will regularly be covered with wood shavings and dust, so it needs to be easy to sweep up and clean up, without students slipping up. On top of this, it needs to house heavy equipment and will see regular wheeled traffic, as well as the expected heavy foot traffic.
Altro Classic 25 is a specialist safety floor, meaning it prevents slips with certain contaminants other than water. With a high slip resistance, it reduces the slip risk to one in a million, with sawdust and muddy water, plus it has good chemical resistance. It also features Altro Easyclean Technology to make cleaning easier. At 2.5mm it’s tough enough to cope with heavy equipment, as well as regular feet and wheels, with the added benefit of comfort underfoot.
CDT room walls are regularly knocked, scuffed and bumped. It’s a working space and should look like one, but regular painted walls end up with chunks missing, paint flaking off, scratches, scuffs and more. A freshly painted wall will soon look as though it was decorated years ago. Not the look you want.
Dense, impervious and resistant to bumps, Altro Fortis Titanium wall sheet is designed to protect these busy, vulnerable areas. Its ten shades, which vary from classic White to bold Cardinal red, run through so, unlike paint or some alternative wall coverings, a scrape doesn’t remove the colour. Use alongside Altro Fortis corner protection, a ready-made piece that protects the areas most susceptible to damage from regular knocks.
Altro Walkway 20 SD is a static-dissipative floor, reducing static build-up that has the potential to damage valuable equipment – both in terms of cost and how vital it is in the day to day running of the school. There’s also the added reassurance of its fire standards compliance in an area that has a higher fire risk than other spaces. Its 10-year guarantee ensures no disruption to the computer systems caused by repairs to, or replacement of, the floor before this time.
These rooms are not somewhere you want to decorate regularly: the walls need to be durable, easy to install and maintain and be able to house shelving and racks where needed.
Altro Fortis Titanium provides the impact resistance and cleanability you expect from Altro walls. Racks and shelves can be fitted onto it and into the wall behind, leaving a surface that can be kept clean by wiping. With equipment and shelving regularly banging against the wall, it gives peace of mind that the wall will be protected, reducing the need for ongoing maintenance.
Prepping and cooking multiple meals and snacks over long operating hours means university and college kitchens have to operate efficiently and quickly, without compromising on safety. As staff work to get multiple dishes ready, there’s no time to worry about oil splashes or food debris on the floor causing accidents. Once prep and service are over, clean-up and advanced prep for the next shift means there’s no rest for the staff’s feet, so a floor solution that can take the burden of a day or evening spent standing is welcome.
HACCP-approved Altro Stronghold 30 is a specialist safety floor with our highest rating for slip resistance and reduces the risk of a slip to one in a million, even with contaminants such as greasy water, oil and food debris. Its 3mm thickness offers comfort underfoot and also provides impact sound reduction, muffling the impact of dropped pans and trays.
Kitchen walls are regularly spattered with sauces, juices and grease, and knocked with tins, pans and trays. They need to be easy to clean and impact-resistant, two things that tiles are not.
Altro Whiterock hygienic walls system has been a market leader for over 35 years. Grout-free, impervious and resistant to impact, it ends the issues associated with tiles, plus is backed with up to 30 years’ guarantee and ongoing technical support from Altro and is fire-compliant. Altro Whiterock White is Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) approved and is made from a high-quality, food-safe PVCu that can handle temperatures up to 60°C, supporting the required hygiene standards. If the kitchen is visible to the public, consider other options from the Altro Whiterock range, including Altro Whiterock Satins.
Altro Reliance 25 offers the ideal combination of chemical resistance, cleanability, stain resistance and durability that a lab needs to look good for the long haul. At 2.5mm thick it can withstand the point loading associated with large pieces of equipment and furniture. And, with a high level of slip resistance, staff and students are also safe from slips caused by accidental water spills.
Laboratory walls will suffer the occasional chemical splash, regular water splashes from the sink, and ongoing bumps from equipment and bags. A wall sheet system to protect the walls in this area makes sense but, as a learning space, there’s no need for a clinical white look.
Altro Whiterock Satins is available in multiple shades: plenty of options to bring a lab to life. It provides the impact resistance and cleanability you expect from Altro Whiterock and resistance to a wide range of chemicals, ensuring the walls retain the intended look long-term.
The sound you want to hear inside a music room is the music being played. The sound you don’t want to hear outside a music room is the music being played. It’s a balancing act. An acoustic floor will reduce impact sound – footsteps within the rooms and into any rooms below, chairs and other furniture being pulled across the floor.
Altro Serenade is an acoustic floor, reducing impact sound by 19dB. At 3.9mm thick it also provides welcome comfort underfoot to lecturers and students, who will stand for much of the time that they’re using the space. There are multiple shade and patterns option to choose from, including three linen-looks that resemble carpet, with none of the hygiene and cleaning concerns. The range also coordinates and matches with both Altro Orchestra and Altro Operetta, so it’s possible to run the same look across a number of rooms and still ensure you have the right technical performance where needed.
To celebrate and inspire creativity, a practice space should…sing. With centuries of musical inspiration to choose from, these spaces allow for more creative freedom than just about anywhere else. As with other well-used spaces, especially one that has high design elements, damage resistance is a must.
Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) allows you to choose from patterns or photographic images, either from our pre-designed collection, or your own design, using a straight-forward ordering process. Wipe-clean Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) is durable, with hard-coat technology providing scratch-resistant properties, ensuring the chosen design will retain its looks.
For showers we recommend Altro Aquarius, a specialist safety floor that offers a one in a million chance of a slip, with both shoes and bare feet and with shampoo, conditioner and shower gel (slider 96). 20 shades mean plenty of choice when creating a new look, or matching with surrounding décor. Altro Aquarius is also an ideal solution for the main changing area, however, if students wear studded shoes, we recommend Altro Atlas, a heavy duty safety floor that offers a one in a million chance of a slip with water, in this area. Both floors feature Altro Easyclean Technology.
These walls are splashed with both clean, soapy and muddy water, plus the odd glob of shower gel or shampoo. They need to be durable, impervious to prevent water damage, and it must be easy to remove dirt marks, soap scum etc.
Altro Whiterock Satins is a fully-bonded system that’s watertight and impervious, ensuring water can’t get behind the wall sheet. Its impact-resistance and 30-year guarantee shows it’s a long-term solution. It’s ideal for areas such as changing rooms, which will need regular cleaning and avoids the common problems with tiles: staining, cleaning grout and individual tile failure. Altro Whiterock Satins is available in multiple shades, so there’s a huge amount of design flexibility to create the desired look and feel for this space.
A floor in this space needs to be consistently functional. It might have to withstand the weight of sports equipment or shelves full of files, and cope if chair stacks are dragged across it. In case of spills, stains should be easy to clean, and those walking in and out of the room need to be protected from slipping.
A room that needs to be reliable needs Altro Reliance 25. This floor offers the ideal combination of chemical resistance, cleanability, stain resistance and durability. With a high level of slip-resistance, staff and students are also safe from slips caused by water accidental water spills, or if water is walked in from the outside.
Walls in storage spaces will get damaged and no amount of repainting is going to keep them looking good for long.
Dense, impervious and resistant to bumps, knocks and scrapes, wipe-clean Altro Fortis Titanium wall sheet is designed to protect walls. Its ten shades run through so, unlike paint or some alternative wall coverings, a scrape doesn’t remove the colour. If there are any corners within the storage space, there’s Altro Fortis corner protection, a ready-made piece that protects the areas most susceptible to damage from regular knocks.
As you would expect, the focus on this area is hygiene. There will be lots of people in and out all day to use the facilities, not always mindful of keeping the area hygienic, so the floor needs to be easy to clean. As there will be regular sink splashes on the floor, preventing slips is also important.
Altro Suprema reduces the risk of a slip to one in a million, keeping those walking on it safe from slip accidents. Its 15-year life expectancy combines with sustained slip resistance, giving peace of mind that the floor prevents slips throughout this time. With tens of shades, including ‘flake’ options, it ensures plenty of choice when creating the right look needed to coordinate with the rest of the living space. When partnered with Altro Whiterock, it creates an impermeable, hygienic solution for the entire space.
A hygienic, easy to clean walls solution here is going to keep germs at bay. The walls also need to be robust, standing up to occasional impact. To encourage students and visitors to treat the space well, a high-end look can help.
Altro Whiterock wall designs offer natural wood, metal, stone and linen designs on an Altro Whiterock wall sheet. Fully bonded and with no grout, there’s nowhere for bacteria to hide. As it’s grout-free and impact resistant, it doesn’t present the same issues as tiles, meaning the space is more hygienic and looks better for longer. And when it comes to cleaning, a straight-forward wipe with detergent is all that’s needed, reducing the time needed to clean this area effectively.
A student bathroom is their own space, often an ensuite. The amount of room is generally limited so the likelihood of water splashes and condensation, plus soap suds stepped out of the shower onto the floor, is very high. So, in addition to providing a homely look, slip prevention is crucial. As not all student accommodation has a cleaning service, the floor needs to be easy for the student to keep clean themselves.
Altro Pisces is available in 17 soft-look shades, including blue, green and neutrals, that were designed specifically to give a domestic feel. It is a specialist safety floor, designed to reduce the chance of a slip to one in a million with both bare feet and shoes, plus common bathroom contamination, including shower gel and shampoo (slider 96) and, of course, water. Altro Pisces features Altro Easyclean Technology, helping students keep this space clean.
For the shower unit, students need a functional space that they can wipe clean. Installers need a solution that can be installed quickly and easily in a small space. Facilities managers need a solution that avoids the issues associated with tiles: cracking; grout failure, and dirt and bacteria build-up associated with these, and the time need to both tile and grout the area.
Altro Walls ShowerKit is a pre-packaged Altro Whiterock wall cladding system that contains all you need to install around a shower tray or a bath including wall sheets, adhesive, silicone sealant and trims. It is designed to be easy to install, even in small areas. With the sheets pre-cut, it eliminates cutting onsite, making multiple installations much faster. As you would expect from Altro Whiterock, it’s impervious, impact-resistant and wipe-clean with a 10-year guarantee: major advantages over tiles.
Student kitchens are generally open plan, with a dining or lounge area right next to it. Without the equipment needed for cordon-bleu cookery, their use is more for light meals, breakfast and snack preparation, so there’s no need for the type of specialist safety floor that a catering kitchen would need. However, water and drink spillages are likely, making a slip-resistant floor necessary.
Altro Suprema reduces the risk of a slip to one in a million, keeping those walking on it safe from slip accidents. Its 15-year life expectancy combines with sustained slip resistance, giving peace of mind that the floor prevents slips throughout this time. With tens of shades, including ‘flake’ options, it ensures plenty of choice when creating the right look needed to coordinate with the rest of the living space.
Splashes of cooking sauces, hots drinks and the odd experimental cocktail, the walls next to a hob and kitchen counter tops need to handle day-to-day use and be very easy to wipe clean. At the same time this is a homely space, so clinical finishes are out.
Altro Whiterock Splashbacks are wipe-clean, impermeable and easy to install. Available in a satin or gloss finish, there are over 40 shades to choose from, making matching or complementing just about any design, easy. As you would expect, Altro Whiterock Splashbacks are available pre-cut, or custom-sized, reducing cutting that might have to take place onsite.
Student bedrooms are spaces to sleep, study and socialise, so the demands on the fittings and fixtures are high! Quiet needed for rest and concentration means reducing the noises that come into, or go out of, individual rooms. This is the student’s home during term time, so a domestic look is key, while avoiding the hygiene and cleanability issues associated with carpet. To house the maximum number of students, these rooms can’t be out of action for installation or prolonged repair, so a floor solution that eliminates this issue is ideal.
With 12 wood-look choices, 14dB impact sound reduction and comfort underfoot, plus a one in a million slip-resistance assurance, Altro Wood adhesive-free provides a decorative, yet safe and durable solution. It’s ideal for bedrooms that are also social and learning spaces. With no adhesive, it also has the benefit of minimising downtime – halving installation time - and no associated odours during and post installation.
The Equality Act means there is an obligation to make reasonable provision and adjustments for disabilities, meaning that disability ramps may be needed to give a safe, reliable, easy to maintain entrance to a room. The potential for a slip on a ramp is increased by the fact that it’s a sloped surface so this is a key consideration when choosing a floor. A safety floor that can cope with regular wheeled and foot traffic is a must. To support those with visual impairment, the ramp surface should contrast with surroundings so that the change in surface or gradient is clear. More guidance on disability access ramps can be found in Building Regulations Approved Document M and Approved Document K.
Altro Stronghold 30 offers our highest level of slip resistance, so you can rest assured that with Altro Stronghold, users can move independently and safely. Fourteen colour choices make it easy to find a shade that contrasts with the surrounding floor.
Colleges and universities have a responsibility under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to ensure that students and staff are safe. Establishments have their own fire guidelines, but a common specification is a 30-minute fire resisting standard and self-closing devices for room door sets, corridor fire door sets and partitions adjoining circulation corridors.
When a fire door is needed, we offer doorsets that have been tested to BS476 Part 22: 1987 Clause 7 and have been assessed to meet either 30 minute or one-hour integrity and insulation. These are available in single, leaf and half door options. Altro Whiterock hygienic doorsets are faced with PVCu, making them tough and impact-deflective, but also hygienic and low maintenance. They are available in all shades of Altro Whiterock White, Altro Whiterock Satins and Altro Whiterock Chameleon, to match or contrast the adjacent walls.
Altro Fortis door protection is hard-wearing, impact and scuff-resistant where needed most. If you want the look of Altro Whiterock on one side, with the toughness of Altro Fortis on the other, that’s no problem. Both options are available with a vision panel to comply with fire door requirements and are wipe-clean.
Find guidance on communal spaces in colleges and universities here.
